Elevate your Pinterest ad game

Five tips for getting the most from this under-used ad platform

When it comes to paid social advertising, Facebook’s vast reach and extensive targeting capabilities make it the go-to platform for most brands.

However, putting all your eggs in one social networking basket could mean you miss out on reaching your audience in more relevant, less competitive environments.

An alternative basket to divvy up your eggs into is Pinterest.

Pinterest has similar ad manager capabilities as Facebook, with the ability to accurately deliver and report on your paid social performance.

Pinterest’s ‘Audiences’ tool also allows digital marketers the ability to create audiences that suit the profile of prospective customers.

And just like Facebook’s pixel, Pinterest provides a snippet of code known as a ‘Pinterest Tag’ that allows brands to retarget to users who have visited your website or performed certain actions.

With monthly active users continuing to grow year-on-year, and Pinterest claiming that 87% of pinners state to have purchased something as a result of seeing it on the site, Pinterest could be the golden goose you’ve been looking for.

So, if you think it could be right for your brand, here are 5 top tips for the perfectly poached Pinterest ad:

1. Use imagery that stands out from the organic pins

Whether that’s using a distinctive colour scheme, or maybe leveraging the power of a cute Labrador puppy, quality imagery is key to running successful Pinterest campaigns.

Performing a quick search on the terms associated with your products will help you to understand the organic pins and advertised pins that currently exist in each space.

Knowing what’s already out there can help guide you when it comes to selecting stand-out imagery in your ads.

2. Make your ads look like ads when driving traffic to your site

Clarity is key on Pinterest so don’t try to disguise the intention of your adverts - you’ll just waste money and annoy your potential customers.

Add a call to action, text or branding; anything to signal that your advert is more than just another pin.
This is most important when running ads to drive website traffic.

You are paying for every click, so make sure your ads look like ads and you won’t waste budget on users that have no intention of browsing your site.

3. Stay away from generalised interest targeting

Putting your trust in Pinterest’s ability to find your target audience might seem like the best thing to do.

For brands looking to place their ads in front of those users who are most interested in their product, this makes the use of Pinterest’s interest targeting a waste of time and money.

Find out what your alternative option is inTip #4…

4. Do your keyword research

An alternative to Pinterest’s interest targeting feature is to target by keyword, which allows you to serve ads to users searching for specific terms.

As these users are typically considered ‘further down the funnel’ you might expect to pay more to reach them.
But unlike other ad platforms, on Pinterest that’s not the case.

Doing your keyword research and bidding against target terms can ultimately lead to cheaper results and a more cost-effective ROI.

5. Make sure your creative is relevant to the search

Other than dropping a Papa John’s face down on your new cream carpet, there’s nothing worse than being targeted by ads you have no interest in.

You may have made sure you’ve got every possible keyword to do with the products/services you want to promote, but are all of them relevant to the exact same set of search terms?

Before you copy and paste your list of keywords across all of your advertised pins, take the time to personalise each advert’s list of keywords.

Add and remove specific search terms to make sure your adverts are as relevant to what each ad is promoting.

It may take longer to set-up, but serving an advert promoting a chaise longue to a user searching for a corner sofa is no help to anyone.

It's good, but is Pinterest right for your brand?

If you are marketing a product that looks great and are trying to reach a female audience, then the answer is probably yes.

YouGov ranks it as the 3rd most popular social platform after Facebook and Instagram among females in the UK.

Pinterest’s user data shows it’s particularly popular amongst Millenials and Generation X, so it might be worth considering for any brand trying to reach those age groups.

Finally. While the platform has the functionality of driving traffic to your site, due to the platform’s main purpose of creating a space for inspiration, the platform lends itself to campaigns aimed at increasing brand or product awareness.

How has True used Pinterest for their clients?

When looking for options to promote California Shutters, Pinterest was a no-brainer.

California Shutters sell self-install plantation shutters with a sophisticated Californian aesthetic to a consumer that is both aspirational as well as price-savvy.

With a majority-female target audience, and Pinterest stating that the top followed Pinterest category is ‘Home Décor’ – the channel was the perfect fit for reaching a receptive community of prospective customers.

Using the tips above, we’ve delivered considerable success for CaliforniaShutters through Pinterest advertising. See some of our creative below.

To find out how True can help your brand get more from paid social, email Tim.